A Look at the Jerusalem Day Parades + One Sane Parade (Column 566)

With God’s help

Disclaimer: This post was translated from Hebrew using AI (ChatGPT 5 Thinking), so there may be inaccuracies or nuances lost. If something seems unclear, please refer to the Hebrew original or contact us for clarification.

Dedicated to my dear wife, Daphna,

who warned about similar phenomena in Lod.

Well, no choice since Jerusalem Day is about to pass. So here’s another short and dense current-affairs column.

Today I heard a radio interview with my childhood friend, Yehudit Oppenheimer, CEO of the left-wing NGO ‘Ir Amim‘. Yehudit is a graduate of the Kfar Pines Ulpana and was a counselor with me in the Bnei Akiva branch we established in Karkur. I haven’t been in touch with her for many years, and from the interview I gathered that she has since moved away from those worldviews. She spoke there about the Flag Parade/Dance, describing it as an ongoing, repulsive fascist event. In similar cases I would have dismissed such statements out of hand and chalked them up to a typical left-wing sensitivity, but upon hearing her words this time I actually didn’t think so, for reasons I’ll detail shortly.

Three Traumas

In the wake of her remarks, I recalled a trauma I myself experienced at such a flag dance. At the same time, I also remembered other traumatic events I’ve experienced over the course of my not-so-short life, and altogether I recalled three.

The first was on a clear night in the middle of the rollicking 1970s, when I was still a high school student (at the Midrashiya). We joined a very long convoy of cars on the way to settle in Nabi Salah (later, Neve Tzuf). Leading us was none other than the legendary Meir Har-Zion with a few of his friends from the Jordan Valley, and they led a convoy of hundreds of civilian cars at night along dirt roads in the hills without lights, while the police and the army filled the area with checkpoints. Unbelievable, but just like in legends we managed to move without lights for many kilometers along dirt paths on barren rocky hills, until we came upon a military checkpoint manned by a few immigrant recruits with their squad commander. The moment it became clear they didn’t intend to let us pass, Meir Har-Zion and his comrades didn’t hesitate for a second, simply got out of the vehicle, pushed them aside, and moved all of us through the checkpoint. As a kid this left an indelible traumatic mark on me—how could we do this to our own soldiers. Years later I thought maybe it wasn’t quite that awful, but from my perspective back then it certainly left a trauma I remember well to this day.

The second event was a few years later, when I was a student at Yeshivat Har Etzion. On the movement’s annual Shabbat Irgun that year, I was sent to proudly serve as the national Bnei Akiva leadership’s emissary in Moshav Avivim on the Lebanese border (not many years after the massacre of its children). That Shabbat will never leave my memory. I encountered staggering backwardness the likes of which I had never known and would not have believed could be found in the Holy Land in the twentieth century. It was a truly dispiriting Shabbat, where it was impossible to speak with anyone except a few children, while outside the moshav’s youths—army veterans with high-schoolers—systematically smashed the branch’s windows. I heard shocking stories about the day-to-day conduct toward the National Service volunteers there, by parents and students, and I was truly horrified. Again, I was very young and not very familiar with worlds other than my own (though over the years I was active in various communities and towns such as Or Akiva, Karkur, and more), and perhaps the trauma was exaggerated (though I suspect not by much).

The third event was when I was already an adult, so I don’t think that trauma was due to my youth. At that time I proudly served as a ram (rabbinic lecturer) at the Hesder Yeshiva in Yeruham (about twenty-five years ago), and I traveled with students and faculty of the Yeruham yeshiva to the flag parade on Jerusalem Day. As a child I participated in the dances that set out from Merkaz HaRav to the Western Wall throughout the night, and I remember that as a rather tiring event but not very harmful—lighthearted, playful nationalism to gladden the hearts of youth. In contrast, the flag parade I’m talking about was truly shocking. A horrifying fascist event, where the air was charged with fascist tension. The flags served there to demonstrate violent sovereignty; the singing and the atmosphere left no room for interpretations. Since then I haven’t been to these events again, and likely will not be. But the testimonies I hear speak of an escalation of the rampant ultra-nationalism there, and in light of my experiences above I can quite believe it.

I don’t think I’m especially sensitive. I’m also not a leftist, and at the time I was even less so than today. I have no problem with the occupation (though I’m willing to compromise on it if there’s a security benefit). I’m entirely in favor of using great force when necessary against rioting Arabs and terrorists, and I’m outraged by the indulgence and tolerance of the government and the army toward the actions of Israeli Arabs and of course also Palestinians from outside (Gaza and Judea & Samaria). But regardless of all that, and certainly not due to left-wing sensitivity, I can say it was simply a horrific experience. I couldn’t help recalling stories about nationalist parades elsewhere that I won’t mention so as not to anger my readers further (to be honest, even back then I noticed certain trends—like Yair Golan). I’ve written here in the past that I have similar feelings when I see an Israeli flag in a synagogue, especially when dancing with it there in ecstasy. This ultra-nationalism that sanctifies mundane matters and injects religious ecstasies into them repels and worries me greatly.

Back to Yehudit Oppenheimer’s words. She described chants of “May your village burn,” “Muhammad is dead,” and other poetic gems, all of it done over the heads of Arabs in the neighborhoods where they live (in the Muslim Quarter) with Israeli flags waved to poke out their eyes, along with harassment and damage to shops and shoppers—things that led the police in later years to ban opening stores and to bar Arabs from entering the “dance” areas. Again, had I not had that experience myself I’d have dismissed this description as left-wing exaggeration. But in light of the above, I don’t think that’s the case.

What’s wrong with it?

You might say: What’s wrong with it? People are expressing their national pride, and if the Arabs are hurt by it, they can lump it. They want to destroy us and aren’t loyal to the state, so why should I be sensitive toward them. Turning the other cheek is Christian policy. We have a different tradition.

I already told you I’m not a leftist. I fully agree with this description of the Arabs. I don’t accept the claims made in the name of political correctness that most Arabs want peace, aren’t terrorists, and are just seeking quiet lives. And certainly not the claims that their actions are done because of us and our fault. In my view the claims that most want good lives and aren’t terrorists are factually correct but irrelevant. As a collective they do want to destroy us. As a collective, most of them are hostile to the state and its Jewish citizens. As I understand it, their (so-called) national identity is built mainly on that desire to destroy us. Beyond that they don’t have many additional shared features, and it’s no wonder that this identity was forged mainly after we arrived here and posed for them this unifying challenge (to destroy us). If so, it’s easy to understand the impulse to demonstrate before them our national pride and our (non-existent) conquest and sovereignty in Jerusalem. Moreover, I think these demonstrations are directed at the Arabs but aimed primarily inward, as a protest against the lack of Israeli sovereignty and governance in Jerusalem.

If it were a demonstration that explicitly bore those matters on its banner, I’d keep quiet. But those are deep motives. On the surface, this parade is a repulsive outburst of ultra-nationalism. My problem is not only the harm to Arabs (which to me is tactically wrong and humanly repugnant), but what it does to—and expresses about—our own souls. An ultra-nationalist frenzy is ugly herd behavior, regardless of whether and whom it harms. I’m not willing to belong to a rampaging herd, not even for the sake of creating identity and confidence in the rightness of our path. That is a human abyss I’m unwilling to descend into. The rampaging in other fascist parades was deplorable not only because of its outcomes. It was itself vile and bestial. When you see a mob running wild, especially around nationalist ideas, you meet the lowest strata of ourselves as human beings. Therefore, irrespective of what might come of it and whom it harms, it’s a problematic event one should not participate in or identify with.

Outbreaks in the style of La Familia—even if one can understand where they come from and what they express—are concentrated, unadulterated brutishness. Therefore, even if one sympathizes with the frustration that leads to them, it’s not right to lend them a hand. Yehudit described rabbis and educators marching with their students and none of them rebuking the ugly songs and the fascist rampage. This isn’t unique to the hardal public, though it has a very troubling influence in religious-education institutions. Joining that stream are also students and educators who aren’t hardal. Ultra-nationalism is a chronic illness in the religious-Zionist world; its origins may be pure and its aim laudable, but its manifestations are ugly and bestial. The frustration of lacking sovereignty for thousands of years, the abuse we absorbed from the gentiles, the ceaseless harassment by the Arabs, etc., may provide a psychological explanation for the phenomenon—but certainly not a justification.

The line between repulsive, bestial ultra-nationalism and a more delicate national pride is very thin. Unfortunately, because of the difficulty in making that distinction, every statement like mine here is labeled as leftism and anti-Zionism, and that’s precisely what has caused this parade to become a parade of the religious-Zionist sector while the rest of the public keeps away. On the religious right they’re willing to swallow this rampaging ultra-nationalism in order to achieve national pride and a Zionist identity, and on the left (mainly secular) they’re unwilling to adopt even national pride and the proper attitude toward rioters and Arabs, so as to avoid the opposite sin and arrive at ultra-nationalism. What’s sorely lacking is the sane pole between these two extremes—one that is prepared to cultivate national pride and decisive actions to realize governance and sovereignty, but not repulsive, ugly ultra-nationalist demonstrations in the style of the Flag Parade.

Broadening the issue

This phenomenon forms the backdrop to what has been unfolding before our eyes in recent months, where the desire to produce a right-religious-national government is bringing that side to an unjustified, unrestrained rampage on all fronts. The entire religious and rabbinic leadership is prepared to swallow all the frogs—like a corrupt prime minister and ministers, unrestrained budget transfers for harmful purposes, heavy-handed, unjustified legislation—all in the name of the lofty goals of tradition, Judaism (so-called), right-wing policies, and security, etc. (most of which, of course, are not achieved). Thus is created a desecration of God’s name on a level unseen since the creation of the world. Today, in the eyes of the world, religious Judaism is synonymous with racism, corruption, and brute force. Note that this encompasses all shades of institutional religiosity: Haredim and religious-Zionists, Lithuanians, Hasidim, and Sephardim. All these are willing for Judaism to become a byword for corruption and brute force and every moral evil—and with ample justification.

Opposite stands the other pole (called here “the left,” wrongfully), which, in order to oppose the brutish, unrestrained conduct of the coalition, also opposes Judaism and tradition (everything is “religionization,” and every government action is a disaster). They’re trying to reclaim the Israeli flag because they understand that until now they’ve thrown out the baby with the bathwater, and that’s already a good start toward sane conduct. But in the meantime, in most cases, again and again both sides compromise with highly problematic behaviors just to avoid complexity.

But life isn’t a guava. It is complex. One can uphold the value of nationalism without ultra-nationalism. And conversely, one can oppose religious coercion without opposing Judaism and without viewing every legitimate step as coercion, “religionization,” and exclusion (I’m already tired of hearing the empty, demagogic sermons that again and again debase these concepts). In the previous column I noted that almost every issue in our lives is complex, and we must accustom ourselves to treat it that way. One can hold any well-reasoned position without enslaving all arguments and discussions to the coveted end goal. It is possible to act rationally and still hold to what we deem the correct bottom line.

The Sane Parade

Yoaz Hendel spoke in that program before Yehudit Oppenheimer. In my terms, one could say that in his remarks he pointed out that Jerusalem Day itself suffers from the polarization I’ve described here. He focused on the religious layer, and I’m adding here the ultra-nationalist layer (I assume he agrees with this too, but isn’t comfortable saying so openly). Those who participate in today’s Flag Parade are only those who belong to the rampaging ultra-nationalist and religious pole. Others keep away from Jerusalem and its parades, since they have acquired a very problematic tinge. Thus needless polarization has formed around a subject that could have been consensual.

To his credit I must say that Yoaz Hendel has quite a few initiatives in these praiseworthy, sane directions: he founded a right-wing organization that monitors the moral conduct of IDF soldiers at checkpoints; he organized demonstrations from the right against the extreme reform but in favor of a reasonable reform; and more. Truly a positive person who acts in the right directions and against the foolish dichotomies that have arisen here, apparently at the encouragement of interested parties (as if morality or opposition to the reform belong to leftists and secular people). Kudos to him.

For our purposes, Hendel announced that he is organizing a Jerusalem Day parade like in the distant past (see a report here). It’s not necessarily a religious event, without separation between men and women, and I would add what he didn’t say: that it’s meant to be an event where even people who don’t feel comfortable with the ultra-nationalist rampage but do feel comfortable with national pride and a connection to Jerusalem will also feel at home. An event whose focus won’t be rampage, harassment, and poking everyone’s eyes, but expressing joy over the city’s liberation. It sets out this evening from the Liberty Bell Park parking lot at 17:45.

Full disclosure: I don’t think I’ll participate in this parade, since ceremonies—especially national ones—don’t do it for me. It seems like a kids’ thing, and I don’t like anything that smells of herd behavior (nationalism somehow usually smells like that). I also don’t like the pathos of ceremonies and the grand speeches about Jerusalem—“we will never forget,” “and forever it will never be divided,” etc. etc. But I have nothing against it in principle. Whoever this speaks to (nobody’s perfect)—certainly those weighing joining the foolish parade of ultra-nationalist rampage—are invited to join Yoaz Hendel. My hand, too, will be with him. From afar…